1/12With a Borla Cat-Back, K&N cold-air kit, and DiabloSport tune-up, the 6.1L Hemi put an extra 25 hp and 26 lb-ft to the rear tires. We didn't get a chance to baseline the Challenger in stock form on the track, but with the bolt-ons, it ran 8.33 at 85.74 mph on Irwindale Speedway's eighth-mile dragstrip. That converts to 13.07 at 108 in the quarter. The Nittos stuck really well, and we left on the converter at 2,000 rpm. The press preview had three colors available-orange, black, and silver, all with black stripes. We drove off in the silver one.

The wait for the '08 Dodge Challenger release has been long not just for Mopar fans, but for all car freaks. We were teased with the concept car two and a half years ago at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit (coincidentally, the same show we first laid eyes on the new Camaro concept), and over the past 30 months, select folks have gotten to drive the concept, spy shots have been seen, and insider rumors have run rampant. Finally, we were allowed to see the real deal and reveal it four months ago, in the Apr. '08 issue. But that was the show car headed straight for the Chicago Auto Show, and we were barely allowed to touch it. The car you see here is an actual production Challenger, and the Chrysler folks were foolish enough to let us have it, unsupervised, for a full week. Yee-haw!

Knowing that the clean-hands books like Motor Trend and its brethren would be given the same privilege, instead of doing a straight-up road test we decided to take a distinctly HOT ROD turn with the car. Like we did with the very first Camaro back in late 1966, we drove our silver Dodge to as many Los Angeles-area aftermarket companies as we could to see what they could do for the car. We ended up bolting on a Borla Cat-Back exhaust, a K&N cold-air kit, and Nitto 20-inch drag radials, then stuck a tune-up in the engine-control computer with a Diablo-Sport Predator handheld. Then we took it to the track to see how fast it was.

The end result was an increase of 25 hp and 26 lb-ft at the rear wheels and an eighth-mile time of 8.33 at 85.74 mph. The only track available during the time we had the car was Irwindale Raceway's eighth-mile, so providing a legit quarter-mile e.t. and speed is iffy, but using the standard eighth-to-quarter correction factor, that translates to a 13.07 at 108.88 mph. (We wanted a corrected 12-second pass, but it just wasn't happening this day.) Chrysler claims low 13s stock, so that seems about right.

Driving the car was a very pleasant experience, though since it was the first one on the streets of Southern California, we were more often at a stop showing it to people than actually driving it. One guy in a new Charger with 22s literally snapped his head as we drove by, flipped his car around, and chased us for a few blocks. We felt obliged to show off the car. It certainly wasn't the only case of that happening.

Inside, the Challenger feels pretty much like the other SRT8 models (300C, Charger, and the now-dead Magnum), though some of accoutrements are specific to the two-door. The center console and door panels were purposely shaped to resemble the original Challenger, and the leather-and-ultrasuede seats are comfy and supportive. Since it's a coupe, there's not as much rear seat room as the other models, but it's sufficient for a 6-footer, and the headroom is better than anything we've seen in a two-door musclecar, including the new Mustang. The rear seats also fold down to make more room in the already huge trunk, and that's the only downside we saw to the car; with the seat down, the rear headrest pokes into the backrest of the front seat, preventing it from reclining as far as we'd have liked.

Driving it is also similar to the SRT8, 300C, and Charger. Seat-of-the-pants performance impressions aren't much different from either of those cars (though we didn't have all three at once for a comparison), but the Challenger's suspension tuning is configured between those cars; softer than the Charger and stiffer than the 300C. On the track at Willow Springs Raceway (during the press debut), the Challenger felt as big as its 4,100 pounds should, but it was fairly neutral and didn't push nearly as badly as our experience in a similar Charger. It was a lot of fun to throw around, though I'm sure it'll be much more fun next year when the six-speed manual version comes out. As reported in the April issue, the only trans available for the first year is the Mercedes-sourced five-speed automatic, but the Tremec T-6060 six-gear will be available in '09 models of the SRT8 and RT (5.7L) Challenger.

Everybody who drove this car and everyone who saw it responded positively, so Chrysler has hit a home run with the new Challenger. The entire '08 model run will be SRT8 versions. The sticker price on ours was $39,000 and change, but dealers are going to gouge those who have to have the first one on the block. Our advice is to let the buying frenzy of the first model year die down and buy an '09. It'll have a six-speed and sell for much closer to the sticker price.

2014 SRT Viper Gets Stryker Green Treatment
Written
by
Diego Rosenberg
on January 12, 2014 SRT is introducing a special new high-impact color for the Viper that will make its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Called Stryker Green.